The Face in the Mirror
by Severitus
Summary: 3 yrs after meteor: a rise in monster attacks...Reeve and Cloud are subjected to an evil scientists plans....and Sephiroth returns in a very unnexpected way....
1. Default Chapter

Title: The Face In the Mirror  
Author: The Ninja   
Rating: PG-13 for mild swearing…I think….  
Spoilers: honestly, I don't know. Probably the whole game, but if you're reading FF7 fan fiction then you   
already know how the game ends anyway.   
Credits: Yes, I own everything! Sephiroth brings me breakfast every morning and Yuffie's tied to a   
weathervane on my roof! The entire planet belongs to ME!!! MWAHAHAHA!!! But I'll keep   
letting Squaresoft say that it's theirs…just to keep them happy.  
Summary: Three years after the defeat of Sephiroth, monster attacks suddenly increase in number, and a   
mad scientist has some crazy ideas….clone someone into Sephiroth, and from him create a powerful   
new breed of SOLDIER. But he's not working alone….. poor President Reeve's his first guinea pig, and   
something's happened to Cloud….  
Reviews:: yes please. Compliments on my absolute genius will be devoured greedily and replied to with   
equal amoutns of thanks and praise.Helpfull criticism is welcomed too, however...I will send my rabid   
sword-wiedling ninja's after flamers. : )  
Notes: -- or / / are for italicized text. > are for dreams.  
  
  
  
  
  
chapter. 1  
  
  
Reeve could get along with just about everyone he met. He had very few enemies, and   
there were even fewer people that he could honestly say that he hated with a passion. One   
of those men just happened to be seated on the opposite side of Reeve's old mahogany   
desk, idly spinning the miniature globe that sat on it's rim. His name was Hideo Momoku,   
former understudy of Professor Hojo, and by far one of the most deranged individuals   
Reeve had ever suffered the misfortune of meeting. Momoku had no morals whatsoever,   
no regard for life of any kind, possessed a startlingly sick sense of humor, and constantly   
suffered with a serious B.O. problem. Not to mention the fact that he was an adamant   
brown-noser, though he had no skill in that department whatsoever. And unfortunately he   
was also the only remaining expert on Mako, which made him temporarily indispensable.   
Reeve idly shuffled some papers on his desk and sighed. He knew precisely why the   
scientist was bothering him yet again, but he also knew from experience that he wouldn't leave   
until he'd put forth his argument. So....he had to simply grin and bear it.  
  
"How can I help you, Mr. Momoku?" Reeve asked politely, his expression carefully   
devoid of any expression despite a vague, yet deceptive, attentiveness. Momoku looked   
up, his thin mouth pulled wry in a crooked grin, revealing just a hint of his jagged and   
yellowing teeth.  
  
"I came to request the use of a few classified personnel files for my research." Momoku   
replied with a slight wave of the hand, trying hard to make it seem of little importance.   
Reeve cocked an eyebrow, and then shook his head sadly. It was just as he had   
predicted, Momoku was singing his usual song.  
  
"Let me guess, you want the files on Sephiroth, Cloud Strife, and Vincent Valentine,   
right?" Reeve said while delivering a slight glare. Momoku blinked in mock surprise.  
  
"Why, yes! How else can I gain valuable insight into my predecessors mental   
processes? They are prime examples of his research! With those files I could...." Momoku   
began, but Reeve cut him off bitterly.  
  
"You could restart that cursed SOLDIER program, and continue your mentor's   
Sephiroth cloning. Yes, Momoku, I know /precisely/ what you would do, and don't think for a   
second that I'll give you any leeway whatsoever. You do not have clearance to see those   
files, and you never will." Reeve said firmly, leaning forward with an icy glare and lacing his   
fingers on the desk top. Momoku stared wide eyed, both his growing anger and frustration   
just visible within his black eyes. His eyes narrowed for a moment, perhaps a slightly   
different tactic was in order....?  
  
"Sir, the SOLDIER program was designed to protect the citiz...."  
  
"The SOLDIER program seriously f*$&ed up a lot of peoples lives, and nearly got the   
planet destroyed. Under no circumstances will I allow any of that type of research to be   
conducted within my company, or within the reach of my influence for that matter. Let me   
make myself clear to you, Momoku. The ONLY reason you are here is because you are   
an expert on Mako energy. Your knowledge is required in order for Shinra to carry out   
our planetary cleanup operations and Mako reactor conversions. Your research will not   
extend beyond that. Do you understand me?" Reeve said, his gaze like that of a gorgon   
turning it's prey to stone. Momoku glared back a little, though his head was cowed down   
reluctantly.  
  
"Yes Mr. Reeve, I understand perfectly." he said quietly, his voice sharp with restrained   
anger.  
  
"Good. You may leave." Reeve said, and immediately shifted his attention to the stack   
of paperwork before him.  
  
  
Momoku growled and stalked out the door, letting it shut behind him with no small   
amount of noise. "That haughty bastard...." he thought. "He'll not destroy my lifelong dream   
so easily!" Momoku angrily jabbed the button for the elevator. Hojo's research was the   
only reason he was here anyway; Professor Gast and Hojo had been the idols of his youth,  
and the SOLDIER program a dream realized. He stepped into the gilded elevator, angrily   
jabbing yet another defenseless button. Hojo had been so close to perfection in his cloning   
research....so very very close... and then Sephiroth had gone insane. Hojo's objectives   
changed completely then. Instead of completing his cloning research, he'd turned his   
attention to the damn space alien and HER objectives. It had been 'Jenova this' and 'Jenova   
that,' all day long. "If only his attention hadn't been diverted...." Momoku pondered as he   
stepped off the elevator, "then we would have made the perfect SOLDIER. Strong, sane,   
no will of it's own....the perfect biological weapon." Momoku sighed, strolling down the   
long, red carpeted hallway to his laboratory.  
  
"So what now...?" he muttered, idly kicking open the lab door. "I can't get at the   
files...but I do still have tissue samples of Sephiroth and the Strife boy....." he paused in the   
middle of the room, his gaze vacant, until something registered subconsciously and his eyes   
slowly drifted upward to a large cylindrical tank in the far corner. A slow grin spread   
across his face.  
  
"Ah ......the DNA recoding tank. How had I forgotten? Hojo was going to make a   
new Sephiroth with you, until he got distracted." the scientist muttered, drifting across the   
lab to the tank, "With you it would be so simple....no need for clumsy cloning...no years of   
waiting for the results. We never even tested you did we?" Momoku said, sliding one hand  
lovingly down the glass.  
  
"Ah yes...that will be my first order of business. I will test you, and if it is successful,   
which of course, it will be...I will then bring Sephiroth back into this world. From him I   
shall create the new breed of SOLDIER....my breed of SOLDIER!" he laughed wildly, his   
hands thrown in the air as he spun away from the tank.  
"But what to test it on? And who?" he paused near a pile of old junk in the corner of the   
room, scratching his chin thoughtfully. He glanced over at the pile of old broken-down   
robots and machines, and his eyes lit up as he sighted one thing in particular. The Cait Sith   
robot.   
  
"Oh my...now THAT is an amusing idea! Inspired, even!" he laughed again.   
  
  
Now he had to secure a human subject, it didn't really matter who for the test run. Since   
the Cait Sith was a robot, it had no DNA that he could insert into the DNA recoder...so   
he had to model some after it from scratch. With Shinra's lab equipment, it would be a   
simple task. Momoku opened the lab door slightly and peered down the hallway,   
watching for signs of life to warp. A moment later, a familiar face appeared around the far   
corner. Quickly pulling back into the lab, Momoku had to slap a hand over his own mouth to   
hold in the raucous laughter.   
  
"Oh, the irony! The IRONY! How perfectly fitting!" he whispered, grinning widely.   
  
  
Dashing to a nearby lab table, Momoku immediately set to work. He had to design the   
DNA code AND mix up a quick sleeping powder for his soon to be guinea pig, and all   
before lunch!  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
The well tempered blade of the Buster Sword shone brilliantly in the afternoon light.   
Cloud Strife admired it with a pleased smile, pausing briefly to buff away a last errant smudge   
from the blade. It certainly wasn't his most powerful sword, but it did have sentimental value.   
Replacing the sword in it's rack on a nearby wall, Cloud stretched and strode to a window,   
gazing tiredly down at the bustling town of Costa Del Sol. He and Tifa had moved into a villa   
there three years ago, after the meteor 'incident.' Neither of them could bear the thought of   
returning to Midgar or Nibelheim, which even now still bore the scars. At least here there wasn't   
even the vaguest sign of the incident, save by occasional word of mouth or the harsh flashes of   
memory. He still saw it in his dreams every night...the vicious thrust of Sephiroth's sword   
through Aeris' vulnerable form......Jenova's writhing, alien body, her hatred seeping through the   
very air itself......Sephiroth's cool, even voice penetrating the innermost layers of his mind.......  
  
Cloud shook his head viciously, struggling to force away the ghosts of the past. This   
was the present. Sephiroth was dead. Jenova was dead. The planet was safe. But why didn't it   
feel like it? Why now, after three years of relative peace, was something nagging at the back of   
his mind? Something simply didn't feel right....  
  
"Cloud!" Tifa's voice rang from the far hallway, pulling Cloud from his thoughts again.   
  
"..Yeah?" he asked, turning slowly to see Tifa standing impatiently in the doorway. She   
was dressed in her martial arts gear, even now tightening the lace on one elbow guard.  
  
"Have you seen my gloves? I have a class to teach in ten minutes and I can't find them   
anywhere." she asked, staring deploringly at Cloud. Together they had started a martial arts   
school, each teaching separate classes on their own respective styles. They didn't really need   
the money, but they desperately needed the distraction it provided from the everyday   
monotony. After adventuring for so long, settling down was perhaps one of the tougher   
challenges yet.  
  
"Did you check the laundry? I think Vincent carried it all down to the washroom this   
morning." Cloud offered. Vincent had been living down in the basement of the villa for the past   
two years. Cloud and Tifa had practically forced him to stay when he'd stopped by for a visit   
one year after they'd all gone their separate ways. The man had been aimlessly wandering the   
countryside, devoid of any purpose whatsoever. Now he was running a local weapon repair   
shop, and seemed at least a degree or so happier than he had been. He certainly wasn't as   
gloomy as he used to be, Cloud thought with a smile.  
  
"Hmm.....I didn't think to check there. That's probably where they ended up, thanks   
Cloud. I'll see you in an hour!" Tifa exclaimed as she dashed off to fetch her gloves.  
  
"Bye Tif, don't hurt them too badly." he replied with a wry grin.  
  
"Ha ha, very funny..." she muttered as she disappeared from sight.  
  
Cloud returned his gaze to the window, his mind once again attuned to the nagging   
sense of some imminent disaster. "I wonder if anyone else has felt anything?" he wondered idly.   
All of the others had returned to their respective homes; Yuffie to Wutai, Cid to Rocket Town,   
Barret to Corel, and Red to Cosmo Canyon. Of all of them, perhaps Red XIII was the only   
one who would have noticed if something truly was out of place. Cloud sighed and stared out   
the window, the warm shades of sunset playing along his face. Come what may, he thought.  
  
  
-----  
  
((  
Screams, horrible piercing screams assaulted his sensitive ears. And monsters,   
slithering, hideous beasts like nothing he'd ever seen before clawed at his flesh, tearing   
away knots of fur when he was too slow to leap to safety. In their midst, something   
metallic and completely alien loomed......some strange blend of machine and grotesque   
life. Red shivered, backing away from the horde of seething monstrosities. Behind them a   
single man stood, grinning madly as the beasts surged around him like ocean waves.   
Red whirled in fear as a deep, wicked laughter filled the air. It was also oddly   
familiar......Then a figure stepped forth from the darkness, blending perfectly until a   
shock of white separated him from the shadows, and a pair of brilliantly glowing green   
eyes opened. A bright blade flashed for a second, and Red XIII froze.   
  
"...Sephiroth...?" Red whispered, but the phantom only laughed and stepped   
aside as another figure emerged from the shadows. Cloud.   
  
"Cloud, what...?" he began, but the phantom Cloud was now bearing down on   
him, the hilt of the masamune clenched in his fists, the swords long, deadly blade   
whistling through the air. Red tried to run, but the phantom was too quick, and the blade   
flashed downward.......  
  
))  
  
Red awoke with a startled yip.  
  
"what the...?" he muttered softly, struggling to shake away the remnants of the   
nightmare. Why now, after so much time, had he dreamed of Sephiroth? And what about   
Cloud, obviously under the madman's control once again? Red growled in dark frustration. It   
was a warning. Something was going to happen, and very soon things would get ugly. And if it   
had to do with Sephiroth, he knew someone who had to know immediately. Cloud.   
  
Red XII dashed out of the cave and towards the chocobo stables. Words couldn't   
express the hatred he felt about riding on those stupid birds....it was awkward, if anything, but   
he felt that urgency was a necessity, and he had no quicker means by which to get to Costa Del   
Sol. He paused only once on his way out of the canyon, to alert the sentries to his sudden   
departure, and then was riding off into the night.  
  
  
  
::Listen, I knwo it would have been easier for Red to use a PHS...but as I'll mention in the next chapter, he   
doesn't have one. I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as possible.:: 


End file.
